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Girls’ Volleyball: CdM sweeps Sailors

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The Battle of the Bay almost featured rival high schools wearing navy blue shorts and jerseys.

When Newport Harbor Coach Dan Glenn noticed host Corona del Mar in the same colors as his girls’ volleyball team, he ordered his Sailors to change outside the gym. The Sailors quickly switched into grey shirts and returned inside.

If the Sailors had stayed in their original outfits, there wouldn’t have been any confusion as to which team was which on Thursday. The Sea Kings showed they are the superior side in the Back Bay, sweeping Newport Harbor, 25-19, 25-14, 25-12, in front of a raucous crowd.

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The victory in the annual rivalry match is CdM’s fifth straight against the Sailors. The last time Newport Harbor won the Battle of the Bay was in 2009, when it went on to claim the CIF Southern Section Division 1AA title and CIF State Division I title.

The Sea Kings look like the championship caliber team this year.

It took CdM (7-1), ranked No. 4 in Division 1AA, one hour to beat Newport Harbor (3-4). The time was almost as short as the previous match between the Sea Kings and Sailors.

The programs met for the second time in six days. Saturday’s contest was in the opening playoff round of the Dave Mohs Championships, where CdM swept the best-of-three match, 26-24, 25-21. Coach Steve Astor, in his second season in charge of the Sea Kings, said he didn’t expect to sweep the Sailors again. The home fans helped.

“Our students were awesome,” Astor said. “What an advantage to have all those kids, not only there, but how much energy they brought and the cheers. It’s funny because that stuff hurts you early on in the match, because you’re so jazzed up, but once you settle down it was a great positive thing for us because they were on the whole time.”

The environment on the road seemed to get to the Sailors midway through the opening set. After the score was even for a seventh time, CdM closed out the set on a 10-4 run.

Katie Craig lit up Newport Harbor during the stretch, recording four of her seven kills in the first set. Craig, a senior outside hitter, also produced a service ace in the first set. Peyton Carter added two aces down the stretch.

“I think they just served us off the court,” Glenn said. “I thought we would be coming in here [with] some momentum. We [were] playing pretty well. They just never let us get in any rhythm because they serve so tough. They really took us out of our game with their serving.

“I’m still really fired up [about] my group. I just think, you know, this is a learning experience, and we got smoked. Tonight they were a much better team than we were, you know, in every aspect, in coaching and everything. Steve did a really nice job of getting his team ready and they came in and brought it.”

Glenn noticed a much different CdM team from a year ago. More balance. With Hayley Hodson gone, no longer is one player carrying the offensive load for the Sea Kings.

Craig led CdM with 13 kills, while Jessie Harris contributed eight kills, and Natalia Bruening five kills and four blocks. Sydney Alacano chipped in five kills and Samantha Jones four.

Jones missed the match against Newport Harbor on Saturday because of ACT testing. She made her presence felt in the contest for city bragging rights.

“I think she hit about .800,” said Astor, who in between the second and third sets talked to his team about not letting down.

Astor referred the Sea Kings to last year’s Battle of the Bay at Newport Harbor, where CdM won the first two sets, then dropped the next two sets, and trailed in the decisive fifth set.

The Sea Kings didn’t need to rally again. They made sure to finish Newport Harbor in three sets this year.

The Sailors’ top hitters, Remy Wilson (seven kills), Gabby Shelley and Logan Grove, tried to keep pace with CdM. They couldn’t, as the Sea Kings were on their way to sweeping Newport Harbor in the Battle of the Bay for the second time since 2009.

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